When we work for someone else, be it a giant company or a neighbor who wants a portrait of all of their dogs, the 20 of them, it's a matter of time before you start to feel a little empty inside. I'm sure many of us would not even consider working for someone if money was not a problem. As creators, we always have stories to tell, things we want to do, personal projects that we want to develop. And the fact that many times, the work is similar to the one before it or cliché after cliché does not help at all.

That's where the title of the article comes in. One way to continue to have the strength to get up every morning to go to your desk and paint "Random knight 110" is to find something personal in that illustration that motivates you, that you feel it is something you have to do, what you need for yourself as an artist. Sometimes there is not much to get out of, especially with those clients who do not give you any freedom. In those cases, I usually focus on the technical aspects. If there is something I want to improve, a brush that I want to use more often, if I want to work faster and I need to find those points where I lose time. There I focus my attention.

Other cases, such as the painting I want to talk about, there is a lot of space to create more "honest" things. This illustration is one of those works where the line between personal and commercial are very diffuse for me.

At the moment of reading the description of this commission I felt a very special connection with the subject. A warrior who mourns the loss of his dinosaur companion.A little backhistory, less than a year ago, I lost my little pet, a dachshund. It lived with my family in Cuba and one of the reasons why I traveled that year was knowing the news of how bad he health was at the time. He was very old for his race and once they start to get bad there is not much that can be done for them. Unfortunately, I didn't get there in time, he died a week before I arrived to Cuba.

It was a bit difficult to face that memory again, but it helped me to focus on the image from a very personal perspective.

I started with two sketches, for this illustration it was clear which of the two worked better. I know that in other previous posts I have spoken that if there is one that you like above the others, just send that one. But I already have experience working with this art director to know that she has similar tastes and I prefer, whenever I can, give alternatives, just in case there is something from the other sketch that interests her to use in the final. Maybe she doesn't like the pose of one, but she likes the design of the character, or the scale of values etc

There were couple of stressful moments, especially to maintain the balance between details and readability. From the sketch to the final illustration it does not change much in general aspects, only slight adjustments in the warrior's pose. In the sketch he is less vulnerable, he takes a second to say goodbye, as if he were passing by. In the second, he is more in the moment, he takes his time, he wants to say goodbye to someone important. I also changed the type of helmet, to see his face better and closed the eye of the dinosaur to avoid calling so much attention from the center of interest. Below the timelapse of the illustration.

In part, it's a very rare feeling to connect so much with a commissioned piece for a product, to leave a piece of you in something as big as Magic. But on the other, I'm glad to have received this card in particular, which in a very special way helped me to say goodbye to my little one.

I haven't been updating the blog with illustrations lately so I'm here to fix that. I usually upload all my new work to Artstation and Instagram for everything else but in case you are not regular with other social networks, here 's the quick tour.

The first one was made back in november last year for Bushiroad. And the next 2 for Legend of the Cryptids, my two last cards with them.

Gilman raider

My latest Magic cards. First one for Commander 17 and the next 2 for Ixalan set.

Value study of the piece.

Apprentice Necromancer

Sketches

Burning Sun's Avatar

sketch

Huatli's Snubhorn

These last few months have been really crazy for me, did a lot of travelling! First for Turin MTG Grand Prix then Cuba, to visit my family and then, Italy again, for the Italian Magic Nationals. Here's a collection of some pictures from the events and drawings.